President Obama Reveals His Favorite 2015 Film

Just as the SAG nominations were rolling in on Wednesday morning, President Obama offered up his own two cents in the awards-season arena, naming his favorite film of 2015. Sure, it isn’t exactly an Oscar, but an endorsement from the POTUS has got to count for something, right—especially since the first in command’s choice was snubbed this morning.

Obama’s pick for best picture? The Martian, the Ridley Scott space drama starring Matt Damon, which V.F.’s critic Richard Lawsonagreed was “sublime, sophisticated entertainment.” The president didn’t offer a review of the film, or any analysis about what exactly appealed to him—he’ll have more time to start his film-review blog after leaving office—as the information was published by People in a year-in-review article. But Michelle Obama weighed in with her alternate pick for favorite film of 2015, Inside Out, the Pixar picture that premiered at Cannes and could be a contender in this year’s Oscar race.

The First Couple didn’t relegate their pop-culture picks to cinema, however. The president shared that his favorite TV show of the year was The Knick, his favorite song was Kendrick Lamar’s “How Much a Dollar Cost,” and his favorite book was Lauren Groff’sFates and Furies. Meanwhile, the First Lady elected Black-ish as her favorite TV series, “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars her favorite song, and Elizabeth Alexander’s memoir The Light of the World as her favorite book.

Stay tuned to see if Fox starts using Obama’s endorsement for The Martian in its awards campaign. We would.